Top 20 most shared video ads of 2013

It’s late November, so we’re comfortably past the point where people are no longer agitated that ‘best of the year’ lists are starting to appear already.

In fact I’ve already got my 'Best Korean Pop Albums' and 'Favourite Men’s Health Straplines (abs category)' lists all lined up and ready to go. In a listicle heavy year, this Winter will be the ultimate in year-end countdown meltdown, or Listageddon as I’m pushing for the late November period to be renamed.

Hot off the presses today (I'm sure there's a more up-to-date cliche then that) and towering above the rest is Unruly with its Top 20 most shared ads of 2013.

This one’s good because it’s based on fact, not the opinion of some feckless pundit.

Here’s the top 20 in all its YouTube embedded glory:

1. Dove: Real Beauty Sketches: 4.24m

Dove transformed its marketing strategy to a more socially conscious approach; building self-esteem and celebrating real women through its advertising, instead of featuring ageless spectres like Andie McDowell.

This 6m35s long video bends all the rules of traditional virality. It’s long, has a measured paced with relatively few edits, there’s nobody getting hurt or pranked. Instead it carries a positive message and it makes you feel good about yourself.

That’s why it’s the most shared video of 2013.

2. GEICO: Hump Day: 4.03m

This one may have gotten old pretty quickly, but its only 30 seconds long and never fails to provoke a guilty grin despite your cynical self.

It's like your dad telling a particularly crappy joke but persisting with it until you find it funny.

3. Evian: Baby & Me: 3.34m

Baffling and upsetting. I don't know who this is meant to appeal to, nor do I wish to find out.

4. Kmart: Ship My Pants: 3.05m

This, on the other hand, NEVER gets old.

I’m gonna watch it again.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Bliss.

Alright, one more time.

5. Cornetto: Yalin: 2.9m

Pitched somewhere between a Wes Anderson movie and a Eurovision song contest entry, this beautifully shot Turkish viral smash is a perfect example of why storytelling works.

What this has to do with Cornetto? I can't tell. Maybe it could have shoe-horned in an awkward shot of the young couple running past an ice-cream van.

6. Budweiser: Brotherhood: 2.72m

Now I want a beer AND a horse. I can see Friday night ending badly.

7. Pepsi Max: Test Drive: 2.69m

A rudimentary Google search reveals that Jeff Gordon is an American stock-car racing driver. His insistence at the end of the video that ‘this is fun’ seems like a shaky defense for the poor car dealer not to call the police.

11. Neft Vodka: Biting Elbows: 1.32m

12. TrueMove: Giving: 1.26m

At the opposite end of the spectrum from Neft Vodka is this moving tale of hope and serendipity. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that some videos appear on the same platform together.

13. PooPourri: Girls Don’t Poop: 1.24m

Like Kmart earlier (ha ha ha, I just watched it again), PooPourri shows an increasing comfort with companies diving into the scatological toliet of human experience.

14. GoPro: Fireman Saves Kitten: 1.23m

I’m not crying. Shut up. You’re crying! Leave me alone.

15. Phonebloks: Phonebloks: 1.08m

It’s ugly and it may be the stuff of technological fantasy, but my goodness it’s a brilliant idea.

16. Three: The Pony #DancePonyDance: 1.06m

Combining the twin might of 2013’s most inexplicably favoured cultural references: Fleetwood Mac and tiny horses (also see Budweiser), this is Three playing to the trendiest common denominator.

17. H&M: David Beckham: 928,272

It’s just nice to see something directed by Guy Ritchie that doesn’t feature characters called Jimmy Five Legs and Stabby Nigel punching each other through a wall.

18. Rockstar: Grand Theft Auto V gameplay: 841, 528

Play some golf, indulge in parasailing, take your favourite lady to the bowling alley, shoot an innocent bystander in the face. GTAV has it all!

19. Sony: Used Game Instructional Video: 764, 857

Following the controversial revelation that Xbox One would not allow players to swap or play previously owned games, Sony released the most wilfully sarcastic advert ever produced by a major corporation.

20. Code.org: What Most Schools Don’t Teach: 754,119

If Will-I-Am claiming that ‘coders are today’s rock-stars’ doesn’t get you fired up for a future sat in front of a computer learning CSS than nothing will.

Ah, 'Ship My Pants'. I wish I'd found you sooner so I could've lived with you for longer.

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